Written and photographed through the 2022 Mountain Workshop.

The first half of a Friday night football game at Grayson County High School ends. As the team runs off the field and into the locker room, No. 16 heads in the opposite direction. He takes off his helmet, picks up a saxophone, and falls in line with the marching band.

In the stands, parents whisper, "Is that Jackson Kane? Is there a football player in the band? I had no idea. Wow."

An 18-year-old senior at GCHS in Leitchfield, Jackson keeps his plate loaded throughout the school year with football, soccer and band while maintaining high grades. And at the last home game of his high school career, he took advantage of the opportunity to merge his two worlds.

With days that can keep him at school for upwards of 12 hours, he is well-known to his educators and peers as an overachiever.

"He's pretty impressive," says head football coach Bryan Jones. "I don't know of another kid who does as much and does it as well as Jackson does."

Jackson has played in the band since elementary school. And, with a mix of his genuine interest and his parents' encouragement, he continued through high school, while playing soccer. Coach Jones approached him about joining football when the team needed a kicker. And he agreed, because he couldn't say no.

"That's the main reason I do 2 1/2 sports," Jackson says. "I have a hard time saying no to people. But I suck it up. I gotta do what I gotta do to make other people happy."

Acts of selflessness come naturally to him. When asked, he brings neighbor kids to school and pays for friends' snacks. During outdoor band practices, he brushes back his younger sister's hair when the wind loosens her ponytail. He gives others the solutions to classwork problems and talks to the kids no one else does. And though he towers over most of them at six feet tall, he can't help but move out of the way for other students while walking through the halls.

During the week, Jackson goes from practice to practice, calmly exiting the locker room and joining the wind instrument section in the parking lot. The divide between 'band kids' and 'jocks' is often broad. But at the only high school in Grayson County, it is a line that Jackson blurs. "I always have to turn on different parts of my brain after studying a whole (football) playbook and memorizing band choreography," he says. "I'm just trying to fit in, but it's hard when you have to fit in with two completely different groups."

The balancing act isn't always easy. Long weekends come, obligations beckon, and Jackson wishes for more sleep. Video games and his friendships provide relief from the chaos. But no matter how tired he may be, Jackson preserves a polite and friendly demeanor. "He's got the biggest smile in the school," says a family friend. While his future remains unclear, one thing is sure: Jackson Kane's time and energy spent at Grayson County High School have not gone to waste.

Football practice.